BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



with streaks of white ; lower part of breast and abdomen silky white ; sides dark 

 grayish-brown ; feathers on upper part of breast on sides brownish-black edged with 

 rusty ; plumage of upper parts dark brown, somewhat grayish on top of head and 

 about nape of neck ; feathers on lower part of neck and the back are darkest. The 

 specimen before me has a decided gloss on back feathers ; the feathers on the sides 

 about the thighs are hair-like in appearance. Length about 13| inches ; extent 

 about 22 inches. 



Habitat. British provinces southward to Brazil, Buenos Ayres and Chili, includ- 

 ing the West Indies and the Bermudas, breeding nearly throughout its range. 



The Pied-billed Grebe, or Dabchick, is a common spring and fall vis- 

 itor, and in winter it is often, seen, especially in the southern counties 

 of the state. The Dabchick is the only one of the Grebes which has 

 been known, to naturalists, with whom I have corresponded on the mat- 

 ter, to breed in Pennsylvania, but as a native the bird is rare, or if it 

 breeds at all regularly with us, it retires to such secluded situations that 

 collectors rarely find it. In the counties of Crawford and Erie Mr. 

 George B. Sennett has observed the species as a "moderately common 

 spring and fall migrant," and Mr. August Koch, of Williamsport, has 

 noted it, in his locality, only as a spring and fall visitor. Dr. John W. 

 Detwiller, naturalist, residing at Bethlehem, Northampton county, writes 

 me he has found it breeding here. 



Prof. H. Justin Roddy, of the Millersville State Normal School, says : 

 This Grebe about ten years ago bred in Perry county, Pennsylvania. 

 The following interesting and valuable notes concerning the nesting 

 habits of the Pied-billed Grebe are given by Mr. Langdon in his list- 

 Summer Birds of a Northern Ohio Marsh : "The little floating island 

 of decaying vegetation held together by mud and moss, which consti- 

 tutes the nest of this species, is a veritable ornithological curiosity. 

 Imagine a 'pancake' of what appears to be mud, measuring twelve or 

 fifteen inches in diameter, and rising two or three inches above the 

 water, which may be from one to three feet in depth ; anchor it to the 

 bottom with a few concealed blades of 'saw-grass,' in a little open bay, 

 leaving its circumference entirely free ; remove a mass of wet muck from 

 its rounded top and you expose seven or eight soiled brownish-white 

 eggs, resting in a depression the bottom of which is less than an inch 

 from the water ; the whole mass is constantly damp. This is the nest 

 of the Dabchick, who is out foraging in the marsh, or perhaps is anx- 

 iously watching us from some safe corner near by. 



"The anchoring blades of coarse saw-grass or flags, being always 

 longer than is necessary to reach the bottom, permit of considerable 

 lateral and vertical movement of the nest, and effectually provide against 

 drowning of the eggs by any ordinary rise in the water-level such as 

 frequently occurs during the prevalence of strong easterly winds on the 

 lake. A small bunch of saw-grass already growing in a suitable situa- 

 tion is evidently selected as a nucleus for the nest, and the tops bent so 

 as to form part of it. 



" During the day we invariably found the eggs concealed by a cover- 



